without breakfast

November 3, 2001

Adopt these cats at Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society

Today's Starting Pitchers
Diamondbacks: Randy Johnson
Yankees: Andy Pettite

This Year's Bird Sightings:
Plum Island Year List

Today's Reading:
The Gilgit Game by John Keay, In Search of Clusters by Gregory Pfister

This Year's Reading:
2001 Book List

Photos

Kent

Precious

Through the looking glass they do six impossible things before breakfast. Here it's not so much "before breakfast" as "without breakfast." However, I think there was supposed to be breakfast. At least other attendees at the all day long range MRFRS planning meeting thought there were going to be bagels. Last time we did this I swear we had bagels. Anyway, already tired from a long work week and too many late night World Series games, I drag myself out of bed at 8:00 AM, throw on some clothes, and leap into the car without so much as a cup of coffee let alone anything one might call breakfast, and just make it to Newburyport three minutes before the start of the meeting.

As I arrive Martha is just returning to the conference room with a big box of coffee. For those readers outside the Dunkin Donuts catchment area, Dunkies sells a thing called "Big Box O' Joe", which is, like it says, a big cardboard box full of freshly brewed Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Well, at least there's coffee even if it's Dunkies' and not Fowle's. No sign of bagels though. Uh oh! I have to do long range planning on an empty stomach? Woe is me. But I put on my brave, I'll do anything for the cats, face and soldier on until lunch.

The meeting is running behind schedule despite our excellent facilitator. We decide to do the small group discussion part of the meeting over lunch. The ratio of hummus and cheese to vegetarians does not favor the vegetarians. There are plenty of cold cuts left over. More meal planning gone awry.

Our little group gets behind in trying to address all five points we're supposed to discuss because we get bogged down in trying to figure out how many square feet each room of the new shelter should be. Personally I'd give every cat an 8 x 10 cubicle but the space that would require boggles the mind.

When the larger group reassembles, each small group presents their assessment of all five issues. Except us. But we do have the most magnificent vision of the new shelter... It also becomes obvious that we are all too burned out to go on to the afternoon's agenda.

We wind up around 2:00 and I drag my tired and hungry butt from the conference room (which is in downtown Newburyport) over the bridge to the shelter to photograph new cats and transcribe the whiteboard (adoptees) into my notebook. We're just so high tech here.

Kent and Precious are new. Precious is just so cute I'll bet she's not even here a week. Ringo, who was new last week, is in the sick room with a 104 degree fever. I forget what normal body temp is for a cat, but I sure wouldn't want to be running that kind of fever.

The people who are adopting Elizabeth and Jacqui, the beautiful white and black former ferals, are here to pick them up. We tell them they respond to the name "Girls!" and sure enough both look up expectantly.

That cute little bundle of play value, Beauty, who had me crawling around on the floor chasing her for a good photo a couple of weeks ago has been adopted as has Grady, the cat who loves men, and a cast of thousands who weren't even on the web site.

It's November and there are still kittens. Please spay/neuter your pet.